Optus rolls out $2 billion 3G network upgrade

Optus has announced a $2 billion upgrade to its 3G network which result a major coverage boost across Australia.

This move coincides with an expansion of the HSPA+ technology that will also increase speeds on the Optus network.

The announcement was made today by Optus chief executive Paul O’Sullivan who said the upgrade investment was to the network “to the next level”.

Optus will set up 500 new base stations and upgrade a further 2500 existing base stations to reallocate the 2G 900Mhz network to faster 3G.

This will not only increase speed and reception it will also increase the network’s capacity.

The upgrades will start in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth with Brisbane and Adelaide being introduced in the coming months.

“Customers demand the best experience from their mobile network. For Optus, it means investing in our network for today and tomorrow, making the best use of spectrum, rolling out advances in mobile technology and bringing our customers greater value and choice in mobile devices,” Mr O’Sullivan said.

“It’s also time to set the record straight about who is bringing real choice to Australian consumers and businesses.

“Over the past four years Optus has invested nearly $2 billion in its mobile network and independent testing is increasingly proving that we are delivering a strong and sometimes superior network performance compared to competitors.”

Optus has also announced it will be rolling out it 4G LTE (long term evolution) in April 2012 with a trial in Newcastle and the Hunter Calley with the aim to have capital cities Sydney, Melbourne and Perth up and running on the faster network by by 2012.

Optus become the first carrier to be awarded a licence to trial 4G LTE at the 700Mhz spectrum band.